Township Board Meeting

STATE OF ILLINOIS CUNNINGHAM TOWNSHIP Diane Wolfe Marlin, Chair Charles A. Smyth, Township Clerk CUNNINGHAM TOWNSHIP BOARD SPECIAL MEETING Monday, February 18, 2019 The Cunningham Township Board met in Special session Monday, February 18, 2019 at 7:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers at the Urbana City Building, 400 S. Vine Street, Urbana, Illinois. ELECTED OFFICIALS PHYSICALLY PRESENT: Chair: Diane Wolfe Marlin Trustees: Bill Brown; Dean Hazen; Shirese Hursey; Jared Miller; Dennis Roberts; Eric Jakobsson; Maryalice Wu Township Clerk: Charles A. Smyth Supervisor: Danielle Chynoweth ELECTED OFFICIALS PRESENT VIA TELECONFERENCE: ELECTED OFFICIALS ABSENT: OTHERS PRESENT: Sheila Dodd, Alyssa Jaje 1. ROLL CALL Chair Marlin called the meeting of the Cunningham Township Board to order at 7:02 p.m. 2. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION There was none. 3. NEW BUSINESS a. Consolidated Social Service Funding Grants (CCSF FY 20) Supervisor Chynoweth spoke to her emailed memo of Feb. 15, 2019. She noted the need for a special meeting to allow the committee time to incorporate Trustee comments before applications are due. She summarized the top points of memo noting that changes are in response to issues raised last year: broadened the CSSF committee to include a trustee, as well as herself, another member of the Supervisor’s staff, Sheila Dodd (City of Urbana Grants Manager), and Alyssa Jaje (CD Grants Coordinator); a streamlined application; required attendance at one of two grants workshops; an outreach plan, an application minimum of $4,000, and technical assistance by the supervisor and Ms. Dodd. For initial discussion purposes ahead of actual budget discussions, Ms. Chynoweth provided a history of funding between city and township for CSSF showing the past 6 years. She noted that the city used to provide $200K compared to $100K by the township and then this was changed per the Township budget surplus and budget issues of the city. Ms. Chynoweth said she would like to look at rebalancing the responsibilities of social services over time but stating that the township does not have a budget crisis and although they have a budget surplus at the moment, it will not last with current deficit spending. Ms. Chynoweth noted proposed program priorities wanting the process by which we score and rank to be clear up front. She also noted the time line so that we can be ready for launch of the grant process with approvals of the allocations the First Monday of June. Questions and discussion followed. Ms. Chynoweth noted that the current version of the application was part of the meeting packet on the city website and that workshops will be held Feb. 28 and Mar 7th, followed by 5 weeks of technical assistance, with applications due April 8 electronically. She will distribute electronic packets for Trustees to pass around to potential Page 1 of 2  applicants. Trustees Miller and Wu discussed priorities as relating to the $4K funding threshold and measures of past success being included. Ms. Chynoweth based the recommendation on the past funding levels and the administrative burden of the grants. Trustee Miller suggested that past success should be part of the scoring process to which Ms. Chynoweth described how program impact is examined. Trustee Jakobsson indicated that he understood that applications were for a minimum of $4K but asked if programs could receive less. Ms. Chynoweth noted that ultimately the allocations are determined by the board but was recommending the $4k minimum. Trustee Jakobsson stated that he would like the committee to be able to recommend less and provided an example scenario based on the fraction of clientele served. Discussion followed with Trustee Brown suggesting a floor of $3K as a minimum award which became consensus. Trustee Roberts asked about the preference to those providing services versus administrative costs. Ms. Chynoweth noted that the grants are open to use for staff, administrative costs, and programs but that information from the applicant’s State Attorney General report was examined for overall admin vs programming costs to achieve a big picture view. Chair Marlin provided Trustees with a memo discussing her planned budget proposals for FY 2020 which maintains current spending while reducing the overall city budget another $500K. She said that the board needed to consider raising the levy back to historic levels noting that General Assistance was reduced$ 200K because of the surplus that had developed. She noted that the discussion of tax caps and such should be a discussion for the Township budget, gave reasons for the city cutting its support in the past, and that the city is addressing our structural deficits. She also noted the legal expenses associated with the Carle and Provena litigation. She also reminded trustees that future health care coverage issues were a concern that is partly addressed by the surplus. Supervisor Chynoweth said that she will bring back information to plan the future levy and expenses looking long term. Trustee Brown added that he thought we can go back to a levy amount based on the highest of past 3 years though we may be outside that window now. He pointed out that the current budget has several onetime expenses that will not be part of next year’s budget. b. Resolution No. T-2019-02-005R: A Resolution Authorizing the Cunningham Township Supervisor to sign an Affiliation Agreement with the University of Illinois (School of Social Work Partnership) Resolution was withdrawn as unneeded by Supervisor Chynoweth and not acted upon. 4. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to come before the Cunningham Town Board, Chair Marlin declared the meeting adjourned at 7:36 p.m. Charles A. Smyth Town Clerk This meeting was video recorded with website link (viewable on demand): https://www.urbanaillinois.us/node/7888 This meeting was broadcast on cable television (UPTV) and streamed live: http://urbanaillinois.us/uptv Minutes Approved: March 4, 2019 Page 2 of 2